• Kirkland & Ellis promoted 200 new partners this year, slightly lower than last year’s 205, but continuing a trend of high numbers.

• New York and California were the top locations for this year’s promotions, followed by Texas, Chicago, and London.

• Most of the promotions involve salaried partners who do not share in the firm's profits.

Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s largest law firm by revenue, has announced the promotion of 200 new partners in 2024. Although this number is slightly lower than last year’s 205, the firm has maintained a record-setting pace of partner promotions in recent years. 

This is the first time in eight years that Kirkland has seen a year-over-year decrease in promotions, following several years of steady growth:

• 193 new partners announced in 2022

• 151 new partners in 2021

• 145 new partners in 2020

• 81 new partners in 2016

Top Locations

• For the 2024 partner class, New York and California are the most prominent locations, with 44 and 38 new partners respectively. 

• This is notable given that Kirkland, despite its Chicago roots, has expanded significantly in New York, where it now has the largest attorney headcount among law firms in the city.

• Other major locations include 34 new partners in Texas, 26 in Chicago, and 25 in London.

Non-Equity Partners

The majority of the firm’s promotions involve salaried partners, which means that these new partners are employees of the firm but do not have equity stakes in the firm’s profits. 

The question is how many of these 200 partners will enter the firm’s equity ranks. The firm recently made it easier for nonequity partners to become equity partners — down from four years as a salaried partner to three — but it’s still quite difficult to make equity at the firm, Above the Law notes.

• Kirkland had 539 equity partners last year (up 6.7% from the year prior) and 969 nonequity partners (up 10% from the year prior). 

• The firm says it has more than 3,500 lawyers in 21 cities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
  

Driven by steady countercyclical demand, the firm's profits per equity partner increased about 6% in 2023, to nearly $8 million, as gross revenue crossed the $7 billion mark.